The Biggest Mistakes To Avoid When Growing Tomatoes

Tomatoes are a curious plant. Once you are comfortable with what you are doing, they are easy to grow. They can climb to impressive heights, and it's rewarding seeing the tomatoes gain size and eventually turn from green to orange to red. However, if you're not comfortable with what you're doing, it can feel like there are a million steps you should be taking to get the desired results. Making mistakes can be hugely disheartening, as you can miss the growing season and have to wait to start again next year. Thankfully, I'm here to help you avoid these mistakes.

I've been growing tomatoes for many years now, and it took me a while to get comfortable with my process. Through my own gardening business, I now sell tomato plants and get pleasure from customers telling me what great harvests they've had. Thankfully, I can share these growing tips with you so you can get healthy tomatoes at the first time of asking. This will inspire you with confidence, and I'm sure it will set you on the path to having plentiful tomato harvests for many years to come.

There are a few reasons that a small container is bad for tomatoes. The first is something that can affect all plants, as you need space for the roots to grow to their full potential. Without enough space, any plant is going to have stunted growth, however much you feed it. Another reason is something I'll mention a lot: tomatoes are heavy feeders. The more soil you have in a container, the more moisture it will hold. A healthy tomato plant will dry out a small container extremely quickly. This will cause the plant to wilt and cause stress. This, in turn, will affect the size and quality of your tomatoes.

The last reason is a fairly unique one. Indeterminate tomatoes (varieties that grow tall) can get extremely top-heavy. Having vines full of growing tomatoes adds a lot of weight, meaning pots can easily topple over in only a slight wind. Due to this, I'd recommend a pot of at least 15 inches. I've seen other sources say a minimum of 12 inches, but in my experience, this is too small for all the reasons above. I actually tried a 12-inch pot last year just to see. The plant grew well, but it kept falling over. Planting in containers is absolutely fine, and you'll get great harvests in big pots. But the bigger the container, the better the chance of success.

Once you know what you're doing, growing juicy tomatoes gets easy. However, they have a few requirements that aren't obvious to the untrained eye. One of them is good airflow. Tomatoes need plenty of space to thrive. One of the biggest reasons for this is disease. In high humidity, these plants can be prone to a few diseases, but a gentle breeze minimizes stagnant conditions and dries the plant more quickly after rainfall. Another issue is that when plants are close together, it makes it easier for disease and pests to spread quickly from one to the next.

When plants are crowded, they can also become what we call "leggy." This is where a stem desperately tries to reach for the sun because its competitors are too close. This can lead to a weak plant and one that is more vulnerable. There are other reasons, too. More space allows better access to pollinators, and airflow can help to keep the temperature around the plant more even. The final reason is resources. Given the greediness of tomato plants, they suck up a lot of nutrients and moisture from the soil. If you plant them too close together, they will compete for resources and are less likely to have their needs met. All of this means that you should give around 20 inches of space between each plant.

It's not the primary reason to do this, but cutting off suckers can also increase airflow. Before we get to that, what are suckers? You have the main stem, with most branches coming off at a near 90-degree angle. Suckers grow diagonally out of this gap. Tomato plants grow these suckers to increase their odds of spreading seeds. Most plants just want to reproduce, and in the tomato's mind (if it had one), the more suckers, the better the chance of producing fruit. The key is what happens when you remove these suckers. The plant then focuses its attention on growing the biggest and best fruit it can from its existing branches. Not only that, but the existing fruit will also ripen more quickly with more resources diverted to it.

This allows for a better harvest, and as I mentioned before, it also helps with air flow and all the benefits that come from that. Amazingly, these suckers have a magic trick up their sleeve. If you let them grow to about 5 inches long, you can place them into soil, and they will grow into a new tomato plant. It will do this quite rapidly, too, with roots often growing in less than a week. It means that from one tomato plant, you can theoretically get an infinite number of plants, as these suckers will also eventually grow their own suckers.

Before planting anything, it's important to know what its good companions are and what the bad ones are. There are several reasons why a plant can be a bad companion to tomatoes. Disease, pests, and chemical interactions can all be factors. As can a plant's requirements of soil, water, light, air, and nutrients. Brassicas such as cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower are poor companions as they compete for nutrients and space. The same could be said for root vegetables, dill, beans, corn, cucurbits, and strawberries. Nightshade vegetables, such as peppers and potatoes, should be avoided due to the risk of spreading disease. One plant you may not suspect to be an issue is the beautiful sunflower. It can release chemicals that inhibit growth, with fennel also being an issue for this reason.

On the other side, there are a few plants that are great companions to tomatoes, with some examples being marigolds and garlic. While these are good, basil is often seen as the king of companions for tomatoes. These can help deter pests and improve tomato flavor. Check what neighbors your tomato plant has, and if you do it right, you'll get a tastier and more resilient crop. If you're excited about gardening, a common mistake is to try to plant too much at once. It's better to start by building up your knowledge with just a few types of fruit and veg that are easy to grow. That way, you'll have a better chance of success and a lower chance of having poor companions.

Apparently, you can overwater tomato plants. But if I'm being honest, it's not a problem I've ever had. Instead, you'll get a headache the other way around. Tomato plants are one of the thirstiest plants out there. They are in constant need of water, and it quickly becomes apparent if they aren't getting enough of it. They will begin to wilt as soon as their soil goes dry. Thankfully, the plants are resilient and will almost always bounce right back after watering. However, you don't want to give them this added stress, and it can even cause the tomatoes to split. Not only do they need regular watering, but they also need to be deeply watered. This means that you want to ensure that water is getting to the deep roots instead of just the first few inches of soil.

When watering, you want to avoid getting the leaves wet, as this can make them more likely to get a disease. In dry spells, this means watering them every day, especially if they are in containers. Rain can, of course, impact how much watering they need, but even a light rain may not be enough for their daily needs. As with all plants, watering in the morning is the best time, as you want the water to have a chance to soak through before it evaporates. If you miss the morning, then any time of the day is fine. This evaporation can be helped by adding mulch around the base of your plants.

Tomato plants aren't just sucking up moisture, but also the nutrients in the soil to go with it. If you just give them water, the soil will eventually lack the necessary food they need. However, you should avoid using general-purpose fertilizers. Without getting too technical, fertilizers will contain a mix of potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen. Most generic fertilizers will have an equal balance of these three elements, which is great for leaf growth and flowering. For the best fruit development and growth, tomatoes need a higher concentration of potassium. This is exactly what tomato-specific feeds have. It will also include various micronutrients tomatoes need, such as magnesium and calcium.

You should follow the instructions on the label due to variances in concentration levels, but these feeds are usually required around once per week. If you give them general fertilizer, then you may get a lush and leafy plant, but the tomatoes may be small and lacking in flavor. Despite its name, tomato feed is also ideal for any flowering or fruiting plant, as the same applies in terms of fruit development. Other common plants where tomato feed works include peppers, zucchini, and any berry plant. If you are growing other fruit and veg, it can seem like an annoyance to switch between different types of fertilizer, but it's an effort worth making.

There are hundreds of tomato varieties out there. Due to this, it's important to know what results you want. Do you have a specific tomato you want to grow, or are you happy to experiment with different types? Each tomato variety will have a different size and taste. They also fall into two different categories of either being determinate or indeterminate. Indeterminate tomatoes grow tall and produce fruit throughout the season. Determinate types are bushy and produce all their fruit in one harvest. Personally, I prefer indeterminate types as they are more striking and produce more fruit. However, they do require support to grow to their tallest and need regular pruning. Bushy varieties can still be fun to grow, with some compact or trailing types being suitable for hanging baskets.

If you are growing tomatoes for the first time, I'd recommend trying out a few different varieties. This will not only teach you a lot about growing them, but it will also give you a better chance of finding your favorite variety. Whatever type you get, it's important to check out its exact growing needs, as there can be slight variances from one to the next. For example, some are suited to cooler climates so will be happy to be kept outside, whereas others may need to be kept in a greenhouse.

Overlooking soil quality is a common mistake that especially applies to any plant that requires strong roots or is a heavy feeder. The common method of planting into soil is to simply make a hole big enough for the pot and then transfer it into the ground. Whether this is a good or bad idea will depend on the quality of the soil. If the ground is high-quality soil, then it's not much of an issue as long as you add the right nutrients through feeding. The problem comes if you are planting into compacted soil. This can happen for a few different reasons, such as being in an area with years of foot traffic, clay-heavy soil, or soil that has a lack of organic matter.

Generally, a handful of the soil should hold its shape but crumble when you apply pressure. It will be dark in color if it holds organic matter. A good sign is if you see any life, mainly in the form of worms. If you're not seeing these signs, you need to add extra compost or look for alternatives such as creating a raised garden bed or using a large container. This can be expensive and time-consuming, but it's a vital step. A few years ago, I planted a tomato in clay-heavy soil as an experiment, and everything I had read turned out to be true. Poor nutrient uptake led to stunted growth, and this lack of growth led to tomatoes that were far smaller than they should have been.

Tomato plants are quite resilient. They are hard to kill and will usually produce fruit even if their conditions aren't ideal. That's true for planting them in a shaded spot. You'll still get tomatoes, but they'll be nowhere near as big and juicy as they could be. For the best harvest, tomatoes need to be in the sunniest spot in the garden. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and moves across the southern sky during the day (in the northern hemisphere). Due to this, the south-facing fence or wall of your property will get the most sun. You usually want to place your tomato plants as close to this point as possible.

This isn't always the best place. You may have an open area in the north of your garden that gets full sun. Or perhaps the southern side of your garden is kept in shade by structures, such as a neighboring house. Before planting, one of the best beginner tips is to observe your garden. The sun will be highest in the sky at midday. This is a good time to check which areas of your garden are in shade and which are fully exposed to the sun. For tomatoes, it's a very simple equation. Unless they get six to eight hours of sun every day, they won't reach their full potential.

One of the most fascinating features of tomato plants is that they can grow roots from anywhere on their stems. This gives gardeners a great opportunity to give their tomato plants a stronger root system. It's an opportunity you shouldn't miss. The benefits of this are fairly obvious, as the more roots it has, the more ability it will have to soak up nutrients. Added to this, it will also be sturdier, which will make it more wind resistant and give the plant confidence to grow nice and tall if it is an indeterminate variety. There are generally two ways this is done.

The first is to bury the plant on its side, cover the lower part of the plant in soil, and have the head poking out. Personally, I don't see the benefits of this, as you can damage the stem, and it's more likely for leaves to have contact with the soil. Instead, I like to bury them deep. To do this, I will pinch off the leaves around a third to halfway up the plant, depending on where the next set of healthy leaves are. You may feel a little sad about burying half of your plant as it'll initially look smaller than it was in the pot. However, this faith will be repaid by more rapid and healthy growth. Always plant them deeper than they were in their seedling pot.